MPs’ grouses delay Punjab Cong listNew Delhi, January 10
With the Congress MPs from Punjab unbending on their demand for ticket to their relatives and confidants and former Chief Minister Rajinder Kaur Bhattal expressing her reservations over ticket distribution and seat-sharing with the CPI, the Congress high-command is finding difficulties in releasing the list of party candidates.

Akali politics, brain teaserChandigarh, January 10
Punjab politics revolve around Akali (Sikh) politics which is a brand of politics with a curious mix of religion. It is a puzzle.
The Punjab political system has been marked by a long spell of President’s rule due to either the Centre-state political mismatch or terrorism.

PUNJAB BACKGROUNDER-I
It has been tussle between Congress, SADChandigarh, January 10
Punjab is one of those states, which after continuous Congress domination till 1966 , has been witnessing a fierce tussle for power between a national party — Congress — and a state party — Shiromani Akali Dal — since then.

SAD keeps unity door ajarChandigarh, January 10
With the release of the second list of 24 candidates for the Assembly elections, the ruling SAD has cleared the names of a total of 67 candidates. The first list of 43 was made public on December 24.

Convention opposes fee hike in collegesChandigarh, January 10
Cautioning the Punjab Government against reducing the 95 per cent grant-in-aid to non-government aided colleges, a convention on ``Save higher education’’, organised at Panjab University here today, flayed the recommendation on the generation of funds by hiking fee and making higher education an ``expensive affair’’.

Badal visits border
villages, promises helpFerozepore, January 10
Punjab Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, who visited various villages located near the Indo-Pakistan border in the district today, said suitable compensation would be given to those whose crops had been damaged due to deployment of the Army on the border.

Unity chances dim, says BadungarChak Fatehsingwala (Bathinda), January 10
The chances of unity between the Shiromani Akali Dal (B) and the Sarb Hind Shiromani Akali Dal
(SHSAD) are dim and Mr Gurcharan Singh Tohra, former SGPC president is responsible for it.

Lok Bhalai Party names three nomineesSamana, January 10
Mr Balwant Singh Ramoowalia, MP and President of the Lok Bhalai Party of India, addressed an election rally in Doger Bazar here today. It was organised by the local unit of the party. He announced that his party would contest 90 seats in Punjab.

JDU to contest 20 seatsAmritsar, January 10
The Janta Dal United will contest 20 seats in the forthcoming elections in Punjab. This was informed by Mr Arun Kumar Srivastva and Mr Jaspal Singh Kapoor, national general secretary and state president of the
JDU, respectively, in a press conference here today.

INTUC firm on
seat demandChandigarh, January 10The Punjab unit of INTUC has called a meeting of its executive at Kapurthala on January 12 expressing apprehension that the Congress is not going to allot 10 assembly seats to it as demanded from the party high command.

Promoted on minister’s recommendation?Bathinda, January 10
The Diploma Engineers Association of the Punjab State Tubewell Corporation has alleged that an assistant engineer of the department has been promoted as Sub-Division Engineer by superseding 35 seniors on the recommendation of a Punjab minister.

Stay order against Kewal Singh cancelledBathinda, January 10
Giani Kewal Singh, Jathedar, Takht Damdama Sahib, could face rough weather as the stay on the operation of orders of a lower court, issuing summons and
non-bailable warrants against him, his son and a family member, was cancelled today by the Additional District and Sessions Judge, Mr Surjeet Singh.

Four die in mishapsPhagwara, January 10
Four persons died and six others were injured in accidents due to poor visibility caused by thick fog that had engulfed the area today. All accidents took place on the
G.T. Road between Phagwara and Chiheru.

PSEB women celebrate LohriPatiala, January 10
The PSEB women’s welfare association celebrated Lohri with great enthusiasm in the head office here today. A large number of women employees took part in the celebrations. Jaswinder Kaur, Sukhbir Kaur, Darshana Soni and Mandeep regaled the gathering with traditional
Lohri songs.

Merger of PAU offices opposed?Bathinda, January 10
Members of the Young Farmers Association have urged the government not to merge the agriculture extension offices, Krishi Vigyan offices and regional research centres of the
PAU.

Hijack case: defence plea rejected
Patiala, January 10A local court today dismissed the defence plea in the Indian Airlines flight IC-814 hijack case seeking furnishing in the court the record of negotiations between the hijackers, UN and Indian diplomats.

Payment of retiral dues stopped
Sangat darshan bills, however, clearedRopar, January 10
The stoppage of payments due to the financial crisis in the state has severely hit retirees. Sources said death-cum-retirement gratuity payments worth about Rs 55 lakh had been withheld since the past six months, delaying dues of about 100 retirees.

CM’s assurance on officers’ transferJalandhar, January 10
The Punjab Congress has termed the transfer of over 20 PCS officers by the Punjab Government as an “open” violation of the poll code of conduct “under the garb” of the Election Commission
directions.

Bid to sell girl,
three heldRopar, January 10
In a stunning incident of its kind in the state, the Morinda police, yesterday arrested mother, step father and paternal aunt of a 17-year-old girl on the charge of trying to sell her off. The
SSP, Ropar, Mr G.P.S. Bhullar, while giving this information said they were tipped off by an informer that the girl was allegedly being sold at
Morinda.

Youth in custody for ‘roughing up’ policemanPhagwara, January 10
Tanuja Batra, son of a rich man, was yesterday remanded in judicial custody till January 22 by Sub-Judicial Magistrate Harbhajan Das. His one-day police remand had expired on Tuesday.

Fest disappoints youthBathinda, January 10
The much-awaited Zonal Youth Festival at DAV College here failed to meet the expectations of the youths due to seemingly inexperienced
organisers.
The festival, which was postponed earlier, was awaited by the students of the city colleges in general and those of DAV College in particular as such festival was held in their college for the first time.